One Microsoft employee reportedly burned $28,000 on AI
Microsoft employees are apparently using AI so enthusiastically that some of them are generating eye-watering computing bills.
According to figures shared from an internal employee spreadsheet, one Microsoft worker reportedly consumed the equivalent of $28,000 worth of AI tokens in just 28 days. That sounds absurd, and it probably is. The data is voluntary and self-reported, and the median monthly usage among roughly 350 employees who provided figures was only about $300. Still, the numbers offer an interesting glimpse into just how heavily Microsoft employees are using AI.
The highest median usage reportedly came from the CoreAI division, at around $975 per employee per month. Security employees averaged about $526, Microsoft AI around $490, while Cloud and AI came in at approximately $325. Some individual employees reportedly reached five-figure monthly usage.
The spreadsheet was originally used by employees to share information about salaries, bonuses and stock compensation. In 2026, an AI usage column was added, allowing workers to track their approximate monthly consumption in dollar terms.
There is a slightly amusing problem with that transparency, however. Employees have reportedly started tokenmaxxing, which is using huge amounts of AI compute partly to make themselves visible on internal usage dashboards. Microsoft doesn’t appear particularly impressed. CoreAI executive Jay Parikh has reportedly told employees that tokenmaxxing isn’t the goal and that they should focus on using AI to produce meaningful results rather than simply generating more tokens.
That distinction is becoming increasingly important. Microsoft has spent years encouraging employees to use AI, but when the bill starts reaching $28,000 a month, someone inevitably has to start asking whether all those tokens are actually accomplishing anything.
